and, at any rate, if I went to France, I could drink the health of
King James every day without his being involved in my treason."

"It almost looked as if he wished you to grow up a rebel, Kennedy,
or he would hardly have placed you in the charge of a priest. He
may have reckoned that if there was another rising, you might join
it, and so be taken off his hands, altogether."

"Whatever the reason was, I have certainly cause for satisfaction
that he removed me from the care of the farmer's wife, with whom
he at first placed me, and arranged with the priest to take charge
of me altogether. O'Leary himself had been educated at Saint Omer,
and was a splendid fellow. He was very popular on the countryside,
and it was owing to my being with him that I was admitted to the
houses of the gentry around, whereas, had I remained in the
farmhouse in which O'Carroll first placed me, I should only have
associated with the sons of other tenants."

"It looked, at any rate, as if he wished to make a gentleman of
you, Kennedy."

"Yes, I suppose my father had asked him to do so. At any rate, I
was infinitely better off than I should have been if he had taken
me in at Kilkargan, for in that case I should have had no
associates, whatever. As it was, I scarcely ever exchanged a word
with him, until that last meeting. He sent down, by one of his
servants, the letter to the Duc de Noailles, and a bag containing
money for my outfit here, and for the purchase of a horse,
together with a line saying that he had done his duty by me, and
had no desire to hear from me in the future. I was inclined to